Hawaii officials say 'No missile threat' amid emergency alerts

Amy Wang - The Washington Post - Saturday, January 13, 2018

Emergency alerts sent to Hawaii residents Saturday warning of a “ballistic missile threat” were a false alarm reportedly sent by mistake, officials said.

Shortly after 8 a.m. local time Saturday, several alarmed Hawaii residents began posting screenshots of alerts they had received, reading:

“[color="Red"]BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”

The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency tweeted at 8:20 a.m. local time that there was no missile threat to the state.

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The U.S. Navy also confirmed in an email the emergency alerts had been sent in error.

“USPACOM has detected no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii,”*U.S. Navy Commander Dave Benham, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, said in an email. “Earlier message was sent in error. State of Hawaii will send out a correction message as soon as possible.”

At 8:45 a.m. local time, an additional alert was sent to Hawaii residents advising them that the first warning had been a false alarm.

“There is no missile threat or danger to the State of Hawaii,” the follow-up alert read, according to screenshots of the message. “Repeat. False Alarm.”

It is unclear how or why the initial alert was sent out, and how many people received it. What was clear was that the first message caused a brief panic, at least on social media, among those who read it and expected the worst.

On CNN, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) said she received the alert, called Hawaii officials and confirmed it was “an inadvertent message that was sent out.”

“[color="Red"]You can only imagine what kicked in,” Gabbard told CNN. “[color="Red"]This is a real threat facing Hawaii, so people got this message on their phones and they*thought, 15 minutes, we have 15 minutes before me and my family could be dead.”

[color="Red"]Less than two months ago, Hawaii reinstated its Cold War-era nuclear warning sirens amid growing fears of an attack by North Korea. The tests were scheduled to be conducted on the first business day of every month for the foreseeable future.

The tests were an audible example of the growing strife with North Korea, which has spooked other communities in the still-hypothetical line of fire. Guam distributed a pamphlet on nuclear attack preparedness that encouraged people*to avoid using conditioner, “as it will bind the toxins to your hair.” A 16-page bulletin released by emergency management authorities in California warned people to*beware of radioactive pets...

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Article: https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAuDB3X?m=en-us

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHeX6QhNQZc"]Nuclear Siren With Big Explosion [/ame]